


Student Council Duties

by whoneedsapublisher



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 13:55:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18874549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoneedsapublisher/pseuds/whoneedsapublisher
Summary: Nico helps out Nozomi with student council work. According to Nozomi, she's a volunteer. According to Nico, she's the victim of blackmail. Either way, however, things don't go exactly how either of them were expecting.





	Student Council Duties

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Nico grumbled. The form she was currently copying student names onto was far from the first form she’d filled out, and if the ominously tall stack of papers to her right was any indication, it was going to be _very_ far from the last. Thankfully, the forms were simple enough that Nico didn’t have to learn the doubtlessly over-complicated system the student council used for filing student information and could just use a register of names by class, but _un_ fortunately, the simplicity of the task made it extremely boring.

“Well, I appreciate it, Nico,” Nozomi said, not looking up from her own work. Her pile of papers was significantly smaller than Nico’s, but judging from how long it was taking her to fill out a single one, the forms she was filling out weren’t anywhere near as simple as Nico’s, a theory further supported by the various books and registers scattered around her that she was constantly flipping through. Nico still couldn’t help but seeth a little at the tiny, neat little pile that made up Nozomi’s in tray compared to her towering one.

“Ha. Like I had a choice,” Nico muttered darkly.

“Of course you did, Nico,” Nozomi said. “Provided you don’t mind repeating the year.”

“Oh, shut up,” Nico said. “So I didn’t do too well on the last exam. Who cares? Nico’s talents lie elsewhere.”

“Oh? And where would that be?” Nozomi said, glancing up from her form with a single eyebrow raised in amusement.

“Being an idol, of course,” Nico said, puffing out her modest chest and smirking. “μ’s would be utterly lost without me. My talent is what holds us together, you know.”

“Is that so?” Nozomi asked, trying to hide a smile.

“It is so,” Nico boasted. “It takes a lot to carry the whole group on my shoulders, but as the most amazing person in the room, I’ll gladly accept that responsibility.”

“It’s only me and you in the room right now, Niccochi,” Nozomi pointed out.

Nico waved her off impatiently. “Metaphorically.”

“And besides,” Nozomi added. “I seem to recall us not having a center.”

“T-That’s a technicality,” Nico said.

“And you’re not the main costume designer, either.”

“Hey! I work on the costumes!” Nico protested. “Okay, so I’m not always the _main_ designer, but I help sew them!”

“I don’t recall you composing our music either,” Nozomi continued, ruthless in her assault. “Or writing the lyrics, or doing the steps-”

“I never said I was doing _everything_!” Nico snapped. “Jeez. I don’t mean that the others aren’t pulling their weight, just that I’m the glue that holds everything together.”

“Ah! Of course,” Nozomi said, slapping her fist into her palm like she’d just had a revelation. “You’re our mascot!”

“I am NOT!” Nico snapped. Scowling, she turned back to her forms. They might be boring, but it was better than dealing with Nozomi’s mockery.

They worked in silence for a while.

Nico had been reluctant at first, but once she resigned herself to completing the job, she started treating it with the same determined efficiency that she approached housework with. Do your best and do it properly so it would be all be over faster. Soon, she got into a rhythm, and the massive pile dwindled and dwindled until there were only a few sheets left.

As she reached for one of them, suddenly Nozomi leaned down on her from behind, wrapping her arms around her in a gentle hug. Nico jumped a little, so absorbed in her work that she hadn’t even noticed Nozomi getting up and sneaking up on her.

“You know, I was only joking earlier,” she murmured, and a shiver ran up Nico’s spine. Nozomi’s mouth was only inches away from her. Nico could feel her warm breath against her ear. “I really am grateful for you helping me.”

“H-Hmph,” Nico managed, trying to focus on the forms. “Whatever.”

“Aww, don’t be mad, Ni~cco~chi.” Nico tensed up as Nozomi drew out her name lazily, whispering each syllable teasingly slow.

“Who said I was mad?” Nico said, trying to ignore her.

“Are you not?” Nozomi asked.

“Hmph. The great Nico Ni isn’t that petty.”

“Oh? Is that so,” Nozomi said, in a way that made Nico suspicious. “You know,” she added “I lied.”

“Huh?” Nico asked, glancing up at her and immediately regretting it, whipping her head back down to the papers. She did _not_ need to be face to face with Nozomi that close.

“Eli wasn’t really busy today.”

Nico looked up again, her mouth gaping open in shock. “ _What_.”

“I told her the paperwork was all taken care of,” Nozomi said, leaning closer.

“Why?!” Nico snapped, her embarrassment completely forgotten in her anger as she moved her face closer to Nozomi’s. Nozomi backed up a little, startled. “What the hell? Are you just making me do all this for your own amusement?! Wait, she could have helped with your work too! You did all that just to mess with me?”

“I did it so that we could be alone together, Niccochi~!” Nozomi said in a fake whine. “You’re always playing with Maki, I miss you~!”

“What?! _You’re_ the one who’s always busy!” Nico snapped. “Student council this, parfaits with Eli that…”

She slapped the form she’d been holding down on the table and stood up, her chair bumping into Nozomi’s legs and sending her stumbling back into a row of shelves as Nico glared at her. “Jeez. Here I was thinking I was doing you a favour-”

“I thought you said I was blackmailing you,” Nozomi said.

“Whatever!” Nico said. “Here I was helping you, and it turned out you didn’t even _need_ help! I have better things to do than be jerked around, thank you _very_ much.”

Nico stormed out of the room, slamming the door loud enough to make Nozomi wince and leaving her alone in an empty room with the sound of Nico’s footsteps echoing through the hall.

“...Well,” Nozomi said to the empty room, as Nico’s footsteps faded into the distance. “That didn’t go quite as planned.”

She sighed and slumped down to a sitting position, pulling her knees up to her chest. Maybe it had been silly of her to expect anything to come of her plan. It was practically an idea out of a romance manga, after all. Still, Nico was usually so easy to fluster. She’d hoped… well, it didn’t matter what she’d hoped. Nico had run off, and now she was left here alone.

Despite what Nico thought, though, Nozomi had been telling the truth. She really had done this to have time alone with Nico, although even the time she’d managed to get she’d mostly wasted, falling into their normal rhythms, too afraid to do anything. That had always been the problem. Even before μ’s, when it had just been her and Eli and Nico, Nozomi had been too cautious to ever have much time alone with Nico. At first, she’d just thought that she wanted Nico to be her friend, that she was just lonely and didn’t want to have another school where she never made a real connection with anyone. By the time she’d realized that Nico was different, the distance between them was already growing wider by the day.

Nozomi had watched Nico’s idol club fail, and hadn’t been able to do anything. She had walked on eggshells around the topic, allowing herself to be placated with Nico’s transparent lies about how she was fine. She’d been too afraid to make a move then, scared that Nico would cast her aside when she realized how useless Nozomi was, how powerless she was to help Nico achieve her dream. When μ’s had started, and Nozomi had nudged things in the right direction, she had been ecstatic. Finally, she could help Nico become an idol. Now she didn’t have to be afraid of Nico scoffing at her when she tried to get closer.

But once there was μ’s, they weren’t just a trio of friends. They were a group. Getting time alone with Nico was hard, and Nozomi was too afraid of what the others might think to try anything in a group setting. What if her crush ruined the group’s dynamic? If she hurt μ’s, Nico would _hate_ her. Nozomi would become the one who ruined Nico’s dream, who destroyed Nico’s best shot at idol fame. But while it was easy to get time alone with Eli, thanks to the student council, Nozomi could never manage to separate Nico from the others. Nico was always too busy after school, busy with her family or busy arguing with Maki or simply swept up into a group wide activity. Even with studying, Eli would always insist on helping, and half the time it would quickly become all of μ’s studying together. Never just Nico and Nozomi together.

So she’d bided her time and planned and plotted and finally she’d done this, potentially overplaying her hand just to get a chance. There’d be questions tomorrow, and they might not be so easily chased away with a sly joke and a wink if Eli got genuinely curious why Nozomi would lie to her. But graduation loomed ever closer, and Nozomi had thought that it was time to make a gamble.

And she’d lost. She’d squandered a lot of time they had fretting over what to do and teasing Nico, and when she’d tried to make her move she’d let Nico storm out before she even got to the point.

She sighed again and rested her head on her knees. Stupid. She should have just stayed quiet and endured, the way she always had. Taking a risk like this wasn’t like her. She _knew_ she wouldn’t be able to handle if it went wrong. She wasn’t like Nico, who was strong enough to keep going after falling and getting back up, over and over again. What strength she’d once had all been drained away, lost piece by piece to build the walls that had let her keep smiling no matter how many times she went to a new school and lost everyone. When she’d opened herself up again, and managed to make real friends with the members of μ’s, those walls had cracked and weakened, and now all that was left was her, trying to carefully and calmly manage any setback the group faced so that she never had to stop and ask herself the question that she knew she couldn’t handle:

“What am I supposed to do _now_?”

Footsteps sounded in the hall. Nozomi scrambled to her feet, flicking away the moisture that had started to gather in the corner of her eyes and dashing back to her seat. There were still teachers in the school, after all. Probably it was someone coming to check up on her, possibly even to tell her that it was time to leave. The student council had permission to stay late, but it wasn’t as if they had keys to building. When the last teacher checked out, they had to be shooed out as well.

When the door opened, Nozomi was back to diligently working on forms. When she glanced up, she was surprised to see Nico in the doorway, still looking cross.

“Oh? What is it, Nico?”

“I forgot my bag,” Nico grumbled, stalking over to her seat and snatching it before giving Nozomi a suspicious glare. “You didn’t do anything weird to it, did you?”

“Perish the thought,” Nozomi said.

Nico frowned and turned to leave. Before she made it out of the classroom, though, she paused.

“You still owe me for this, you know,” she said.

Nozomi said nothing, her heart sinking.

“So you’re going to take me out for cakes this Sunday,” Nico said, not turning to face Nozomi. “Just the two of us, so you can’t try and weasel your way out of paying. Alright?”

“O.. okay,” Nozomi said, caught off guard.

“Good,” Nico said tersely. “I’ll see you then.”

“It’s a date, then” Nozomi said, smiling.

“It is _not_ a date!” Nico snapped.

“It’s a just a turn of phrase, Niccochi.”

“Bah!”

Nico stormed out again. She’d kept her face turned away the entire time, but despite Nico’s best efforts, Nozomi had noticed her ears getting a little pink.

Well. Perhaps that hadn’t gone so badly after all.

It was a good thing that no teachers ended up checking on her before she finished with the paperwork and went home. She would have had a hard time explaining why she was bright red. Or why she couldn’t stop smiling.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Based on an anon tumblr ask:  
> “Nozonico and the prompt “As the most amazing person in the room, I’ll gladly accept that.”?"


End file.
